Human Rights Watch Accuses Saudi Arabia of Massacre of Hundreds of Ethiopian Refugees Trying to Cross Border from The War-Torn Country
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
22 August
2023
1. Eye witnesses said 90 people were
killed by Saudi security forces.
2. Ethiopian people are hit by the
armed conflict in the country.
1. 3.Saudi forces have been killing
asylum seekers in remote border areas.
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Ethiopian
migrants reach Yemen in 2019. (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)
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The
international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has released its
reports on Monday on the plight of Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers. In
its report, it has accused Saudi Arabia of gross human rights violations as the
report says that the Saudi security forces have massacred Ethiopian refugees
and asylum seekers trying to cross into Saudi Arabia. According to the report,
Saudi Arabia has killed hundreds of the refugees in the last one and a half
year. The 73-page report released on Monday in New York says that the security
forces of Saudi Arabia targeted refugees with sophisticated weapons. Human
Rights researcher and activist Nadia Herdman says that the security authorities
of Saudi Arabia have been killing Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers in
remote border areas and this was being carried out without the knowledge of the
world. She further said that the authorities posted on the borders are fully
aware that those they have been killing are unarmed civilians. Saudi government
has not reacted to the report yet.
According
to the Human Rights Watch, many people are compelled to leave their country due
to adverse conditions, war or insurgency and seek refuge in another country.
According to the Associated Press, the Human Rights Watch had released its
statistics in 2022 which said that about 7.5 lakh refugees were living in Saudi
Arabia. Out of them, about 4.5 lakh refugees had entered the kingdom without
legal documents. The HRW said that the immigrants try to enter Saudi Arabia
through Yemen where they enter through the Gulf of Eden.
The current
report of the HRW is based on the interviews of 42 people including immigrants
from Ethiopia. These immigrants had tried to enter Saudi Arabia in 2022. 350
videos and photos from social media and other sources were used to prepare the
report. Apart from it, satellite images were also used to identify border areas.
A refugee told HRW that a group of 170 people was targeted by the Saudi forces
when they tried to cross the border. 90 of them died and he saw people taking
the dead bodies away. He said that he saw dead bodies scattered all over.
It should
be noted that an armed conflict has been going on between the Ethiopian
government headed by Abiy Ahmad and the separatists of the northern region
Tigray since November 2020. The Tigrayan armed group has been demanding self-determination
for Somali origin people. In September 2020, they held elections in Tigray in
defiance of the government and declared sweeping victory for them. But the Abiy
Ahmad government called the elections invalid. Both the sides have declared
each other illegitimate. In November, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF)
attacked the military base in Sero. In response, the Abiy Ahmad government
started military offensive against TPLF.As a result, people were killed and
millions of people have been internally displaced. Both the sides have accused
each other of human rights violations.
According
to a report, in 2021, the United States characterized the conflict as ethnic
cleansing against Tigrayans, and reports have documented the prevalence of mass
atrocities. In March 2021, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights announced a joint probe with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission
(EHRC) to investigate alleged abuses and rights violations in Tigray, although
the impartiality and accuracy of the report [PDF] were called into question
following its presentation at the United Nations. After the events of the Axum
Massacre came to light in February 2021, the UN admitted that its human rights
investigators were not authorized to visit Axum while working with the EHRC.
The joint report presents evidence that the ENDF, Tigrayan militant groups, and
other militias involved in the conflict have all committed various human rights
violations. Abuses listed in the report include the use of rape as a weapon of
war, violence against children, and ethnically targeted killings. A UN Security
Council proposal to condemn the parties to the conflict in early 2021 was
quickly scrapped due to push back from India, Russia, and China. Foreign news
sources have accused the ENDF, Eritrean troops, and Tigrayan and other regional
militias of perpetrating further massacres and mass death events (often
bombings) since then.
Tigrayan
forces retook the regional capital of Mekelle from the ENDF in June 2021. A
month later, Addis Ababa announced the results of a national parliamentary
election—which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won in a landslide. The TPLF
boycotted what was supposed to be the country’s first free and fair election,
and opposition leadership in parliament accused the Abiy government of banning
poll observers in some states. Later, in the summer of 2021, Abiy called on all
capable citizens to join the war against Tigrayan forces as the conflict began
to spill over into the Afar and Amhara regions, growing closer to Addis Ababa.
In November 2021, Tigrayan troops and allied Oromo militants marched within
eighty-five miles of the capital but were forced back north by ENDF forces
backed by Emirati, Turkish, and Iranian drones purchased by the government.
Human Rights Watch later reported that Tigrayan troops killed dozens of
civilians while occupying towns in the Amhara region as they made their way
south that fall.
Compounding
Ethiopia’s internal struggles, a border clash with Sudan has been at risk of
escalation since 2020, when Sudan used the chaos of the Mekelle Offensive to
reignite a territorial dispute over a piece of fertile land adjacent to Tigray.
That dispute turned deadly in 2021 and led to the dual militarization of part
of the border.
50,000
civilians have been killed in the crossfire so far and 50,000 have fled the
Tigrayan region. They have taken shelter in Sudan and other neighbouring countries.
In Sudan, refugee camps have been set up for them.
3.1 million
people have been internally displaced as of May 2023 and 9,30,000 people have
taken refuge in South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia. 7 million people are in need
of assistance as the health, nutrition, sanitation and water supply systems
have collapsed.
In these
circumstances, the approach of Saudi Arabia to the refugee problem is
disappointing. The human rights track record of Saudi Arabia is already very
poor as it cracks down on human rights activists and journalists who criticise
the policies of MBS. Salman has also been accused of ordering the killing of
journalist Khashoggi though he hss denied his involvement in his murder. Saudi
Arabi, the self- styled guardian of Islamic community has shown insensitivity
to the refugees of Ethiopia and Yemen. Instead of providing food, shelter and
other civic amenities to them, it has been killing hapless, innocent refugees,
including children and women. The world should hold Saudi Arabia accountable
for its inhuman and un-Islamic treatment of refugees.
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